


Now Our Stars Align

by Razzledazzy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Fluff, It's not TLJ compliant in spirit but it actually could be, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, despite me having written this a year ago, this isn't actually very shippy but it IS romantic as hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-04 00:18:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13352529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Razzledazzy/pseuds/Razzledazzy
Summary: Saving the galaxy is exhausting.Who do you turn to when your only friend is injured and your almost-mentor is dead, leaving you adrift in a cause much bigger than yourself?





	Now Our Stars Align

The metal clenched under her broken nails felt alien even though she’d held it for most of her life. The staff felt unbalanced under her fingers, too long and heavy. There was no buzz running steadily under its skin, no thrum of life and death, darkness and light, push and pull, no sense of a balance she didn’t even know how to measure.

She didn’t dare pick the lightsaber up from where she’d dropped it on the Falcon’s floor in her haste to help pilot the ship away from Starkiller. It could stay there until she got back to the base and gave it to General Organa for all she cared. The vertigo-like sensation she had when she held it was too much to stomach at the moment.

Too many things she didn’t understand had happened in such a short time, and now her only friend was gravely injured- possibly dying. But the only thing she could focus on was feeling so empty yet so overfull at the same time. Whether it was from the force or the impact of something else, she didn’t know. Lacking that knowledge grated on her nerves in a way she didn’t understand, all she wanted was to know what was happening to her, what all of _this_ was.

Chewie was watching Finn, trying to keep him stable till they rendezvoused with the Resistance, Rey didn’t trust her own knowledge of medicine enough to help him, so she stayed in the cockpit of the Falcon. He had decades of experience with wounds like this, from the Clone Wars of all things. The wookie was much older than he looked.

Setting aside her staff, Rey sighed.

Chewie voiced an inquiry.

“Yes, we’re almost there.”

She had no idea what would happen next.

 

* * *

 

General Organa already knew everything. What happened to Han, that Rey had the Force, that Finn had been badly hurt, she seemed to know everything before Rey could get the words out. It was a relief to step away from that conversation and leave Chewie and Leia to finish up the debriefing. She hoped they would have time to mourn in private.

The lightsaber knocked into her side where it hung from her belt, a strangely familiar movement like the ticking of a bomb. The General had refused to take it, insisting that she keep it for the time being. Arguing with her about it would have been pointless as well as lacking in tact. She had the feeling she wouldn't have won if she tried.

So it hung there, swaying as listlessly as she felt.

They had taken Finn to medical when they landed, a pilot she had never met before sprinting to his side last she had seen. The look on the pilot’s face led her to believe they were close. Belatedly she realized it must have been Poe Dameron. Who was alive, if what BB-8 had told her when she landed was anything to go by. 

She should have asked BB-8 to take her to medical but the little droid had hurried off, citing that he had to visit someone.

Alone, Rey leaned back against a metal wall that sheltered her from most of the noise of the base. She slid down the smooth surface until she was seated. After several deep breath of the overly rich atmosphere, Rey leaned her head back and closed her eyes. After all those years of waiting and wondering- _wanting_ to be a part of something bigger, she was part of something as big as the entire galaxy, and she was at a loss for what to do.

Maz was right, it had been ahead of her the whole time, but what path would she take from here?

“Hey.”

Rey cracked open an eye to see a female x-wing pilot standing above her and offering a protein bar like an olive branch.

“I thought you might be hungry. Do you mind if I sit?” the girl said, gesturing to the spot on the floor next to Rey who nodded and took the offered bar.

Rey ripped the wrapper off of the bar and tore into it. When was the last time she’d eaten?

“I’m Rey,” she offered awkwardly after stuffing half of the bar down her throat. Her cheeks flushed pink as she wiped crumbs away from her mouth and started to take slower bites.

The girl laughed lightly, causing Rey’s blush to deepen. “Yeah, I know. Finn made a real convincing case to Poe about going back to get you. From what he said, I knew I had to meet you. I’m Jessika Pava of the Blue Squadron, but most people call me Jess or Testor,” Jessika held out a hand and Rey shook it after hesitating for a moment.

“Nice to meet you,” she replied. The last bite disappeared quickly, leaving Rey to flounder awkwardly for something to say.

“Was it good flying?” she asked hesitantly after a moment.

Jess turned her head, eyes widening slightly. “Well, you know. It was- it was okay-,” she sighed lightly, “-actually it was pretty kriffin’ awful. Low temperatures are one thing, x-wings can handle that with no problem, but the sublimation of the ice due to the energy from the star being contained inside the planet made for some pretty terrible flying conditions. A lot more of our fleet might have made it out if I’d brought it up during the pre-mission briefing, but there wasn’t any time and I underestimated the effects.”

“I’m sorry,” Rey said with sympathy, wondering if she had overstepped something when she saw and a flush spread across Jess’ face.

Jess shook her head, offering her canteen to Rey. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to unload on you right after… whatever went on planetside. There’s not going to be a full debrief until later.”

Rey considered that for a moment, as of yet, no one really knew what had happened outside of the people that were there She knew that gossip would spread just as quickly here as it would any other place, there were probably rumors flying around the base due to Han’s conspicuous absence among the returning landing party. What if someone thought that Han defected to the dark side to be with son? The very idea of it ate at Rey. Han Solo would never do that. She’d only known him for a matter of days but she knew at her core that he was on the side of light.

If she told Jess, maybe Jess could tell the others. Keep the bad rumors from getting around before the truth.

“I don’t know the whole story, Finn convinced them to try and rescue me, which probably wasn’t entirely necessary as I was loose on the ship for a few hours after escaping-” Jessika held up her hands to stop her.

“Woah, woah, details are needed for this to make sense. How’d you escape?”

Rey snorted, thinking abruptly of JB-007. “I asked a stormtrooper very nicely to let me go and leave me his gun,” Rey said wiggling her fingers at Jess.

“You _didn’t_ ,” Jess laughed.  

“I didn’t think it would work at first, but since Kylo Ren couldn’t seem to do anything to my mind I figured it was worth a try,” Rey said.

Absently she traced the black vertical lines on the hilt of the lightsaber, it was starting feel more familiar to her, like a horribly corroded piece of salvage and over time that corrosion was being chipped off a piece at a time to reveal the priceless machinery beneath it.

“I knew him, you know,” Jess said after it became apparent Rey wasn’t going to continue speaking without some sort of prompt, “Ben, I mean. My parents met because of Han Solo ‘dragging his fucking mess all over Hutt space’, to steal a quote from my mom. There were so many different battles after the destruction of the first Death Star, but especially on Dandoran, Er'Kit, and Tatooine... ”

Jess trailed off and Rey nodded for her to continue. “Well my mom was a smuggler whose partner owed Han a favor and my dad was an ex-senator turned mercenary that ended up coordinating the Rebellion forces on Dandoran. When things settled down and everyone started regrouping on Hoth, my mom kept smuggling and dad joined her crew to replace her retired partner. About 10 years after the The Battle of Yavin they decided try settling down on Dandoran and I came along. They kept in contact a lot of their rebellion friends, and we would all go to Yavin 4 for Life Day every 3 years.”

Jess smiled, albeit sadly. “Ben was about 10 years older than I was, but as a young kid I was obsessed with all things Jedi, I used to follow him around and bug him with questions whenever he was around. In my defense, Poe was way worse. He came up with a game that involved throwing things and betting whether Ben could cut it in half with a lightsaber. Ben always pretended to be annoyed but he liked to show off.”

“He killed Han,” Rey whispered softly when there was a break in conversation. It was better that she knew, Rey convinced herself that General Organa’s words about keeping that secret didn’t apply to this sort of situation.

Jessika’s brown eyes widened in shock. “What?” Her question was barely more than an exhale but Rey heard it clear as a bell.

“I had no idea what was going on and then suddenly Han was shouting at Kylo Ren instead of planting bombs. It all happened so fast.”

The hallway seemed to grow colder for a moment as silence spread between them.

“That’s so horrible,” Jess said biting down on her bottom lip. “What happened did-”

Jessika was interrupted by a weary looking officer ran down the hallway yelling something. Immediately Jess slid to her feet with as if she hasn’t been sitting cross legged on the floor seconds earlier. Her movements held more grace than Rey managed, lurching to her knees that were stiff from the cold floor. Jessika reached down and offered her a hand that Rey took gladly.

The skin to skin contact jolted through her system, and Rey resolved to get clothes that could withstand the drafty hallways of D’Qar if she was going to be here tomorrow.

“You two better come see this,” the man said, not bothering with protocol before making a hairpin turn on his heel to go back the way he came.

Rey exchanged a glance with Jessika that was met with a shrug.

“Come on, it’s probably important,” Jess said leading Rey down the hallway by the hands that were still linked.

 

* * *

 

The room that they arrived at was roughly circular, and if Rey had to guess based off of schematics she had seen in ships it was some kind of conference room or command briefing room. General Organa was standing in the middle of the room, waiting for people to trickle in.

“You think this she’s going to announce what happened?” Jess whispered to Rey, breath ghosting over the shell of her ear.

Rey shrugged her shoulders back slightly in response.

Truthfully, most of what General Leia said went in one of Rey’s ears and out the other. It was soothing to listen to, even if she didn’t fully grasp the logistics of so many people. How did the resistance keep them all fed?

R2-D2 trundled forward, lighting up the room with lines of blue and dots of red. They were spacemaps. One that was missing a critical piece of the puzzle.

There was a beep from behind Rey as BB-8 rolled into the back of her knee, chirping softly before positioning his piece of the map in the bigger map.

“We have Luke’s location,” General Organa said flatly.

Jessika’s hand squeezed hers. This was what they needed to fight the First Order. This was their chance. The Republic had been shattered, but this would give people hope. So many people put their lives on the line for this chance.

“Rey, Chewie, both of you are taking the Falcon to retrieve Luke, I don’t care what you have to say to him, so long as he comes home. Drag him if you need to. If you cant-” Leia breathed out through her nose heavily.

“We’ll talk about that later,” she straightened her back, her presence commanding the room’s attention off of the map.

“Everyone else, we’re evacuating. The First Order knows we’re here and we cannot do anything for the Galaxy if we’re all dead. Essential personal begin packing up sensitive equipment tonight. We’ll be off by tomorrow at noon. Everyone report to your evacuation ships. I want both fighter squadrons on the main ships. There’s a chance they’ll bring Dreadnaughts, bomb squads should be prepared for the chance to deliver their payloads.

“Everyone report to your commanding officers by no later than dawn, and get some sleep if you can,” Leia canceled the projection of the maps, and the room broke out into chaos.

Leia grabbed Rey by the arm before she could leave, marching her forward into a private room off of the main conference. Jessika’s fingers slipped through her hand, Rey gave her an apologetic look over the General’s shoulder.

“Rey, I’m sorry that this has fallen to you. It’s a huge responsibility- and one you didn’t sign up for,” Leia rubbed her shoulders.

“I want you to rest assured that Finn will be cared for by our medics to the best of our abilities. I doubt if I’ll be able to get Commander Dameron away from his side for more than ten minutes at a time,” she said with a wry smile.

Rey nodded, unsure of what to say in response.  “Thank you, for taking care of him.”

“Thank you for returning him to us, Starkiller Base was not something we could have fought a head on battle against. You, Finn, and Commander Dameron happened to be in the right place at the right time, right when the universe needed you the most. I know exactly what that feels like. Especially when that moment comes at a monumental personal cost.”

Leia pulled out a shimmering bracelet that pulsed with a soft blue light.

“This is a relay, you will have one and I will have one. It will let you know where the Resistance fleet is once we move off of D’Qar. When your mission is done, this will tell you how to get home.”

Home.

She took the bracelet in her hands, feeling the soft buzz of electricity through it. This could be her home. If she was willing to fight for it.

“I’ll do what I can to bring Luke home.”

“That’s all we- all _I_ can ask of you.”

Leia's eyes glittered like she wanted to say something further, but she shook her head and pulled Rey into another hug. "Go and get some sleep, you need to learn to roll with it and grab rest when you can. Let me show you where you can stay."

 

* * *

 

Rey had a few minutes to herself in a quiet room that had been assigned to her for the night before someone knocked on her door. So much for resting.

She opened it, the panel sliding open to reveal a more casual looking Jessika. She was dressed in orange still, but the outfit was form fitting instead of bulky like all the pilot uniforms she’d seen.

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, “What are you wearing?”

Jessika startled, looking down at her orange shirt and black pants with a blush on her face, looking back at Rey. “Uh, I needed to throw my uniforms in the wash before the evacuation." She waved her hands in front of her, "That’s not why I'm here though!”

Rey leaned on the frame of the door, “Why are you here?”

“I know you’re probably exhausted, but there’s something I think you should see. Since we’ll be moving off-planet and you’ll be off to fetch Luke soon,” Jess told her, one of her hands finding Rey’s again. “You might not get the chance to see it again.”

“Okay,” Rey said, gathering up all of her items into a pack that Leia had given her along with the relay.

“Woah there, you don’t have to bring everything. It’s just a short trip.”

“Oh, okay,” Rey slowly unpacked and set everything down again. She picked up her- no, Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and all the ration bars she could shove in her pockets. That was enough for a short trip off base. Right?

They walked in silence down to the hanger. It was bustling considering it was nearing the middle of the night. People ran back an forth across the room, checking maintenance stats and loading different tools onto different ships. Jess walked through the chaos with a pace that brokered no interruption.

Jess led her to a grey speeder. It wasn’t much to look at, but Rey could see that care had been taken in its maintenance. Some of the parts were second hand, but everything gleamed with fresh oil and a lack of grime.

She whistled lowly.

“She’s not much, we kind of all pitched together to help build her. Speeders aren’t really top priority on a Resistance base. Not for fun. We all take turn doing maintenance on her when she goes down,” Jessika flushed.

“She’s beautiful,” Rey said, running her hands over the smooth metal.

“Yeah,” Jessika echoed, looking at Rey.

The moment stretched out into the thick humid air.

“Anyway, hop on, this won't take very long,” Jess pulled herself onto the Speeder and held out a hand to help Rey up.

Rey slid onto the seat behind her, her body brushing up against Jessika’s back. She was warm, her body radiating the pleasant heat of a sunbathed rock instead of a scorching desert or blistering heap of scrap. She settled her hands on the side of Jess’ waist, holding on over the thin material of her shirt. It was a finer fabric than Rey was used to, and it provided almost no barrier between their skin.

Jess looked over he shoulder, “Do you trust me?”

“What?”

“Do you trust me?”

Rey nodded, her throat suddenly feeling parched at the question. Jessika was Resistance, and she was a friend. The only one she’d made since Finn had been injured.   

“Then close your eyes until I tell you to open them.”

The planet wasn’t dark, not even with her eyes closed. She could see flashes as they passed the lights leading them away from the landing strip, away from the base. The flashes passed at regular intervals until they stopped all together.

There was a steady thrum from the speeder and an accompanying hum from Jessika, chiming out a tune that only she and the speeder seemed to know.

It could have been minutes or hours before the speeder finally slowed to a stop.

“Follow my voice,” Jessika said, getting off the bike and taking both of Rey’s hands in hers. They were walking over an uneven terrain. 

Now that the speeder was quiet, she could hear a rush of noise, and the soft clink of something swaying with the breeze that tugged on her clothes. The hands transferred to her shoulder, turning her around so she was facing the direction of whatever it was Jessika wanted her to see.

“Okay, open your eyes.”

Rey blinked open her eyes.

It was still night time, but it was nothing like the night Rey was used to. She thought the stars always looked the same. After all, they looked the same from the viewports of the Falcon as they did in the sky back on Jakku. They changed places depending on where you were, but they were always points of light in a dark sky.

This was entirely different.

Rey’s breath left her body in a rush.

The sky was green, frosted through with a galaxy’s belt across the sky in verdant shades. Green and yellow bands of light whipped across the sky in waves. Trailing from one star to the next and shedding a soft light on the vista below the stars.

The sky was breathtaking, but the view from the top of this hill was incredible. A dark green landscape of leafy plants and trees stood dotted with sharper spots of vibrant pink and purple, faded to look almost blue in the low light. A spread of colors that didn’t exist in the sepia washed tones of the desert where the greenest thing she'd ever seen was a loaf of bread.

What drew her attention away from the colorful plants was the water. There were rivulets of water crashing down the opposite side of the valley. More rivers than she could count careened off the edge of the land to fall into the clear basin below, sending up a thunder of noise that never faded.

The water in the basin caught the sky and reflected it, magnifying the ripples of light streaking over their heads like a mirror, shifting over the surface of the water as it moved. Breathed. The whole planet seemed alive in a way that Jakku never had.

“There’s a cold layer of gas in the upper atmosphere that absorbs almost the entire spectrum of light except for green and yellow. The sunlight’s tinted green too, if you pay attention. It paints the stars with color. The bands of light are from the planet’s unique magnetosphere, it centers on the equator, instead of the poles. That’s visible solar wind up there.”

“It’s beautiful.”

Rey drank in the sight. The feeling of cool mist on her skin that rose up from the waterfalls below.

She turned to look at Jessika, framed in that same green hue, “Thank you for showing me this.”

Jessika leaned forward and pressed a simple kiss to her lips before pulling away. “I wanted you to take something beautiful with you, times ahead aren’t going to be easy. Everyone needs a good memory to hold onto.”

“And good people to return home to,” Rey whispered back.

The Resistance would be her home, so long as it held people like Jessika, Finn, and General Organa. 

**Author's Note:**

> So, I made Jessika’s mom the player character from the canon game, Star Wars: Commander. Fight me everyone. (Her dad is probably ex-senator Johhar Kessen. if we’re getting down to it. Obscure lore ftw!)
> 
> I wrote this right after seeing the Force Awakens and never finished it, chalk this going up now to 2018 New Year's resolutions.
> 
> Check out my profile for links you can find me at.


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